Field of the Invention
This invention relates to showers, and more particularly relates to prefabricated shower tray and curbs for use in installing a shower pan.
Description of the Related Art
Shower pans used in the installation of showers in residential and commercial construction applications have been known in the art for decades. Shower pans slope inwardly and are required for proper water flow to a centrally-located drain. Most local building codes require shower pans.
Traditionally, mortar beds have been built on a subgrade for supporting the pan. Additionally or alternatively, shower frames have been constructed from wooden curbs and ramps to hold the pan. The components of the frame may abut one another but are not waterproof in the art. These curb-ramp assemblies server as little more than bases upon which other shower components forming the pan rest or are affixed, including mortar waterproofing membranes and tile.
Although there are shower substrates/frames fabricated from polymeric products known in the art which are supplied to contractors for improving the efficiency shower installation, these substrates suffer from many of the same defects and inefficiencies as mortar beds, including a propensity to leak, or seap, water through the bed/substrate components abutting one another into underlying wooden or steel members.
Traditional kits do not provide means of efficiently preventing leakage and provide no means of grading surfaces beyond the curb and tray abutment points. It is therefore desirable that a kit, tray or substrate assembly be provided with enhances waterproofing and pan installation.